Chaotic Sunday - SMU, Texas, and Stanford Pull Off Upsets

What a crazy day it was on Sunday with not one, not two, but three regional hosts going down. The day started off in College Station with the resumption of Saturday's match between Texas A&M and Texas and it finished in Lubbock with SMU kicking the door down and stunning Texas Tech.

When the season started if you told me that Texas would be in Tulsa for the NCAA Round of 16 I would have told you to go see a doctor. Well Texas made a believer of me and many today after going into enemy territory and knocking off Texas A&M in a 4-3 thriller.

The match originally began on Saturday but after Texas A&M took the doubles point the match was stopped early in singles due to rain. Play resumed Sunday morning at 11am central and within a matter of minutes Texas had five first sets in the bag after Rodrigo Banzer, Adrian Ortiz, and George Goldhoff closed out sets on 4, 2, and 1.

NCAA First/Second Round Previews: Florida & Texas Tech Regionals

Florida Regional
Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex (Linder Stadium) - Gainesville, FL

[9] Florida Gators (18-6) vs. [49-64] North Florida Ospreys (11-11) - Saturday Noon ET - The Florida regional is the only regional that had all four teams get in after winning their conference tournament. Florida got the SEC's automatic bid after beating Georgia in the finals of the SEC Tournament while North Florida earned its first-ever NCAA berth after defeating USC-Upstate in the finals of the Atlantic Sun Tournament. Florida has won the doubles point nine straight times (7 of 9 opponents ranked inside top 50) and in fact they've only dropped three individual doubles matches in that nine-match span. UNF has won the doubles point in 12 of its last 13 matches though none of those opponents were ranked inside the top 50. 

Doubles Records: Florida 19-5, North Florida 14-6

UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: Florida 84, North Florida 78

TCU Tops Texas Tech To Win the Big 12, Ohio State Is The King of the B1G, & More Conference Tournament Winners

Championship Sunday delivered some great matches throughout the country but the highest profile match took place in Stillwater as Texas Tech met TCU in the finals of the Big 12 Championships. The teams were regular season co-champs but Texas Tech got the No. 1 seed due to its win over TCU in the regular season.

Texas Tech won the doubles point in the regular season meeting and they'd do it again today after picking up a 7-5 win at No. 1 and a 6-4 win at No. 2.

Saturday Recap: TCU/Texas Tech Win in the Big 12, Ohio State/Illinois Come Through in the Big Ten, Tickets Punched in the WCC, MAC, Summit, & Big West

Semifinal Saturday was a busy one with two of the closest matches taking place at the same time in Stillwater at the Big 12 Championships.

TCU edged Oklahoma in the regular season 4-3 and even though Andrew Harris wasn't playing today you figured it would be still be a close one. TCU's usual No. 4 Eduardo Nava was out as well so each team had to shuffle its lineup a bit.

TCU took the doubles point but it was anything but easy - well it was easy at No. 3 but not on the other two courts. Cameron Norrie and Alex Rybakov won 6-1 at No. 3 but OU's Spencer Papa and Alex Ghilea picked up a 7-5 win at No. 1. OU's Axel Alvarez and Austin Siegel broke to go up 6-5 but TCU's Guillermo Nunez and Trevor Johnson would break Siegel to send it to a tiebreak. OU was serving up 5-4 in the tiebreak but TCU would win three of the next four points to close it out 7-5.

Sensational Sunday Recap: Wake Stops UVA, Gators Walk the Dawg, Texas Tech Soares Over TCU, Buckeyes Wins Another B1G Crown

Sunday was a tremendous day for college tennis fans all across the country. There were over 1700 fans jammed into the Cary Tennis Park for the finals of the ACC Championship and probably at least five times that many watching throughout the country on ESPN3's national telecast. The final of the SEC Championships was also broadcast on ESPN3 while the final of the AAC Championships was broadcast on the American Network.

Wake Forest, Florida, Texas Tech, and South Florida may have been the winners of the day but the biggest winners were the supporters of college tennis. They were treated to a high-quality product that kept them on the edge of their seats and hopefully they'll continue coming back for seasons to come.

Friday Recap: UCLA and Cal Win Out West, Rain Hampers Play in the Southeast, Ohio State and Penn State deliver in the Big Ten, & More

It was an extremely long day of tennis in Columbia, South Carolina, as rain pushed the schedule at the SEC Tournament back significantly and ultimately shifted play indoors. One of the opening matches of the day, which started at 9am ET, would be a barnburner as South Carolina was trying to pull off its third top-20 upset in the last five days.

The Gamecocks started off the morning by taking the doubles point over No. 13 Texas A&M with Gabriel Friedrich and Harrison O'Keefe winning the deciding tiebreak at No. 1 by a 7-1 score.

Texas A&M rebounded in singles by taking four opening sets but South Carolina's Andrew Schafer was the first one to finish after he defeated Jordi Arconada 6-1, 7-5 at No. 3.

Sunday Recap: UCLA Over USC, Texas Tech Takes Out OU, Columbia/George Washington/Jackson State NCAA Bound

Sunday was a tremendous day for college tennis with five matches broadcast on National TV. The day started off with Fox College Sports Pacific/Fox Sport Oklahoma showing the Oklahoma/Kansas women's match. Then you had Fox Sports 2 showing a doubleheader in Stillwater with the Oklahoma State women hosting TCU while the Oklahoma State men hosted Baylor. Lastly you had the Pac-12 Network showing a UCLA/USC doubleheader with the men playing first and then the women second.

Despite these matches being on television the stands were packed and the crowds were loud which made for a great environment for those of us that watched from home. I hope today was a glimpse into the future and not just a once a year thing. I'd love to be able to watch multiple matches every weekend and I want to applaud both Fox Sports, the Pac-12 Network, and ESPN for getting matches on its different platforms. The Tennis Channel broadcasted the finals of the Oracle/ITA Masters back in September but I don't believe they've had any college tennis on since so maybe that's something that will change in the future.

Friday Recap: UVA Too Strong For Wake, UGA Rolls Arky, UNC Holds Off GT

The two biggest matches of the day didn't end up being as close as I thought with both No. 1 Virginia and No. 6 Georgia rolling to victories over No. 7 Wake Forest and No. 12 Arkansas.

Virginia won its 13h straight regular season ACC Championship with a 5-2 win over Wake Forest in front of over 1100 fans. It looked like Wake Forest might take the early lead but Virginia was able to hang on in doubles. Wake's Romain Bogaerts and Dennis Uspensky won 6-2 at No. 3 but Virginia's Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and Mac Styslinger would break on the deciding point to go up 5-3 at No. 2. Kwiatkowski went up 40-0 on his 5-3 service but would double fault two times in a row to make it 40-30. Kwiatkowski would land a first set and then a Styslinger volley at the net would force a Wake error to clinch the 6-3 win.

What A Night - #55 Notre Dame Stuns #1 UNC, TCU & Kentucky Win 4-3 Thrillers, Georgia Rallies Past Florida, & More

Just when you think you've seen it all you get a day like today with one thrilling finish after another. Before I can even talk about all the 4-3 matches I got to give a shoutout to No. 55 Notre Dame who absolutely stunned top-ranked North Carolina in one of the biggest upsets, in terms of ranking, in college tennis history.

The Fighting Irish entered the night with a 12-12 record, and that was after beating Chicago State twice last Sunday, so most people probably figured at best they'd win a set or maybe a court but surely not the match. It was the final home match of the season for Notre Dame which meant it was the swan song for the five seniors on the roster. Four of the seniors (Monaghan, Lawson, Sabacinski, Montoya) would start and they would each play a role in the upset victory.

Saturday Recap: SoCal Too Tough For NorCal, SMU Stuns South Florida, Texas Tech Wins A Thriller at Baylor, Ivy Roundup

It was a nice weekend for the two Southern California Pac-12 schools as both UCLA and USC swept their Northern California neighbors, Cal and Stanford. Both Cal and Stanford went 2-0 in doubles on the weekend but neither could do enough damage in singles to make the early lead hold up.

Cal's Mads Engsted and JT Nishimura cruised to a 6-2 win at No. 3 doubles over Gage Brymer and Max Cressy but the Bruins appeared to be in control with 4-1* and *4-2  leads at No. 1 and No. 2. Cal would get the break back on both courts and Filip Bergevi and Florian Lakat would take the final five games at No. 1 to win it 6-4 and give the Bears the doubles point.

UCLA came back in singles and took opening sets at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. UCLA sophomore Martin Redlicki made quick work over the slumping Andre Goransson by winning 6-1, 6-3 at No. 2. Goransson went 13-2 in the fall with 7 ranked wins but he's just 5-8 in dual-match play with a 1-8 record against ranked opponents.

Sunday Recap: Owls Shred #9 Texas Tech, Hogs Tops Rebs, USC Survives Oregon, Dawgs Tame the Cats

Rice was looking to win the Rice Invitational for the ninth year in a row but to achieve that feat it'd have to find a way to beat a top 10 team for the first time in 10 years. Both Rice and Texas Tech beat William & Mary and Drake on Saturday so both were playing well coming into today's finale.

Texas Tech's Felipe Soares and Hugo Dojas won 6-4 at No. 1 doubles but Rice's Jake Hansen and Emanuel Llamas came back from *1-4 down to win 7-5 at No. 3.  Rice's Jamie Malik and Adam Gustafsson trailed 6-3 in the tiebreak at No. 3 but would fight off a total of five match points to win a marathon tiebreak 14-12 to give Rice the doubles point and early 1-0 lead.

Ride Sally Ride - Mustangs Run Over The Pokes, Boise State Comes Up Big Again, Texas Takes Out Tulsa

The hits keep on coming and on today's playlists we heard the 1966 classic Mustang Sally after No. 36 SMU ran all over No. 5 Oklahoma State 4-0.

SMU jumped out to the early 1-0 lead after taking the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3 and then the Mustangs claimed four opening sets in singles. SMU's Nate Lammons made it 2-0 with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Julian Cash at No. 1 and then Hunter Johnson put the Mustangs a point away from clinching with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Arjun Kadhe at No. 2. Redshirt junior Tony Russell would bring it home for SMU with a 7-6, 6-3 upset win over Lukas Finzelberg at No. 5.

Friday Recap: Noles Rally Past Hokies, Upsets Galore In the SEC, Tulane Outlasts San Diego, UNF Upsets Georgia St

Friday was a wild day of tennis with several teams coming from behind to pull out thrilling wins. The biggest comeback of the day took place in Blacksburg as No. 23 Florida State appeared to be down and out against No. 40 Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech took the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3 but Florida State turned it around in singles and took first sets at one through four.

FSU's Benjamin Lock cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 win over Joao Monteiro at No. 1 but Virginia Tech answered with a 7-6, 6-3 win from Aaron Gomez at No. 6.

Thursday Recap: Buckeyes Top The Bulls, Columbia Wins at SMU, & Action Gets Underway in San Diego

After a calm Wednesday the pace picked up on Thursday with Ohio State taking on South Florida while the Hilton San Diego Mission Valley Spring Classic got underway with four close matches at two different sites.

No. 4 Ohio State made its outdoors debut in Tampa and despite getting tested the Buckeyes still had enough in the tank to get past No. 16 South Florida 4-3.  Ohio State's Chris Diaz didn't play in doubles (reasons unknown) but the Buckeyes still managed to win at No. 1 and No. 2. Diaz's normal partner, Hugo Di Feo, and Matt Mendez led 5-3 at No. 3 when the point was clinched.

Tuesday Recap: Pepperdine Upsets No. 26 Memphis, TCU Holds Off Tulsa, Nebraska Tops Lamar, Texas Tech Over IU

Tuesday was a good day for Marcelo Ferreira's guys with the Waves re-entering the rankings earlier in the day at No. 71 and then later in the day they took care of business and upset No. 26 Memphis 4-2.

Pepperdine won the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 and then the teams split first sets in singles. Pepperdine junior Stefan Menichella was off the court quickly with a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 4 but Memphis countered with a 6-3, 6-2 win by sophomore Kai Lemke at No. 3.

Sunday Recap: TCU Too Good For Illini, Arkansas Stuns Oklahoma, Wake Topples Texas Tech, ODU Beats NCST

One day you're on the top of the mountain and the next day your toppling down the hill. Illinois took the court today against #8 TCU just 16 hours removed from its big win over #2 Virginia so you had to figure they'd have a tough time replicating the same energy in such a short span.

It was sunny and 65 degrees outside at match time but the 25-30 mile per hour wind gusts kept play indoors. I knew the crowd wouldn't be as big as Saturday night but I was impressed with the Sunday afternoon turnout of just over 400.

SC Stomps Stanford, Michigan Tops Washington, Texas Tech Beats the Pack, & More

The featured match of the day took place in Palo Alto with Stanford hosting USC in a non conference matchup. Stanford had dropped the doubles point in three consecutive matches and it didn't get off to the best start after USC's Rob Bellamy and Jake DeVine picked up a quick 6-2 win at #3. However a short while later Stanford's Nolan Paige and David Wilczynski would win 6-3 at #2 and then Tom Fawcett and Maciek Romanowicz sealed the doubles point with a 6-4 win at #1.

USC quickly turned things around in singles by taking five opening sets and Nick Crystal needed just over an hour to finish off David Wilczynski 6-3, 6-1 at #2. Stanford would end up being just as dominant in the second set as USC was in the first because the Cardinal took four second sets while USC's Jack Jaede forced a split at #5.

Bruins Bounce the Bulldogs, Aggies Tame the Lions, Buckeyes Roll the Bears, UNC Gives Red Raiders the Heel

The action is heating up in Charlottesville with half of the day's Round of 16 matches already in the books. The first two matches of the day didn't have a ton of suspense as #8 Ohio State ran over #4 Baylor 4-0 and #7 North Carolina overcame the loss of the doubles point to beat #14 Texas Tech 4-1.

The second set of matches though were both thrillers with #3 Texas A&M holding off hard charging #14 Columbia 4-2 and #9 UCLA coming back from 3-2 down to beat #11 Georgia 4-3.

UCLA head coach Billy Martin wasn't exactly looking forward to another match with Georgia despite the Bruins success versus them two weeks ago, "I thought there were a couple of teams we might face in the opening round but Georgia wasn't one of them and I wasn't necessarily looking forward to seeing them again. I knew Manny would have them ready for us and knew it'd be a tough match and it was."

Men's National Team Indoors - Round of 16 Previews

The draws are out and the lineups are set for the 2016 ITA Men's National Team Indoor Championships with play getting started on Friday at the Boar's Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Virginia. Play gets started each day at 9am eastern and finishes each night around 9 to 10pm.

I'm going to preview each round of 16 match using the master lineups that each team submitted and I'll make my predictions as well. With this being an indoor event I'll also take into account which teams are comfortable playing indoors while others only play indoors a handful of times each season.

There will be live scoring on all 12 courts but only point-by-point scoring on courts 7-12. The same goes for streaming video in that it will only be available on courts 7-12 too.

ITA Women's National Team Indoor Preview

The second-largest team tournament in collegiate tennis behind the NCAAs is the ITA National Team Indoor event. 15 schools advanced in Kick-Off Regionals to join host Wisconsin in Madison in the prestigious event that lasts from Friday through Monday. Last year, North Carolina dropped only 2 points in its 4 matches to clinch its 2nd title in 3 years. Lots of questions come into the tournament - can UNC match its title run after two of its three stars left? Can Vanderbilt show the world that its NCAA title isn't a fluke? Will UGA turn its consistency into a national title? Will a new team emerge from Madison as a top-tier team?